2/20/2006

Propaganda reversed

In WWI, the Allied governments often used as propaganda the battlecry "Remember Belgium!" This referenced the alleged crimes committed by German soldiers against Belgian non-combatants, namely women and children, during the invasion of France. Posters such as this were common at the time:Of course, historians would later agree that these alleged crimes were limited or did not occur at all, yet the propaganda campaign was effective in creating a motivation to fight the Teutonic horde.

Today, the media seems eager to create propaganda to mobilize hatred against US troops. The latest publication of Abu Ghraib photos accomplishes just that. Salon.com justified its decision to publish the photos with "Abu Ghraib matters severely. It will go down in history as a terrible humiliation for our democracy, for our ideas about the rights of individuals and the responsibilities of conquering armies....As an American news organization, we do not believe we should make decisions about censoring discussion and debate of our government, and our military, based on fear of extreme Muslim reaction." (http://www.salon.com/letters/editor/2006/02/18/abu_ghraib/index1.html).

It is clear that many in the media either do not acknowledge a war on terrorism, or do not wish for America's victory. Rather, the media relishes in creating a caricature of the US soldier: a torturing, inhumane brute. This caricature stands alone in the media, due to their refusal to report positive stories in Iraq or Afghanistan and the progress our soldiers have made in those countries. These photos affect two groups of people: the victims and the victimizers. A housewife in Nebraska does not need to see the photos, nor the imam in Jordan.

Just as the Allied goverments eggagerated or even knowingly spread false accounts of German attrocities in Belguim, the media today portrays Abu Ghraib as routine, and even a matter of policy. Thanks to the media, we have propaganda reversed...we are now the Hun.